This week, get news on YouTube’s new action-focused CTAs, Google’s sharper Performance Max tools, and how AI search is reshaping SEO into AEO. You’ll also hear my take on breaking the founder’s trap, see quick wins for email design, and get inspired by 2025’s funniest campaigns.
Quick News: Content, AI & Advertising
YouTube Ads Get Sharper CTAs — YouTube’s Promote tool now lets you add specific calls-to-action for website visits—like Book Now, Get a Quote, or Contact Us. The update streamlines ad creation within YouTube Studio, making it easier to turn video views into measurable actions.
Podcast Spotlight: Brand Succession with Lindsay Sutula — In the Cover Brand podcast, I joined host Ethan Decker to share how I rebranded from Sutula Marketing to Top Fox—breaking free from the “founder’s trap” and building a brand that can outlast its namesake. The episode covers the why and how of brand succession planning, tactics for separating personal and company brands, and quick wins to make your business more memorable than its founder.
Performance Max Gains More Control & Clarity — Google’s latest Performance Max updates add campaign-level negative keyword lists, doubled search theme limits, device and demographic targeting, and clearer new customer reporting. The release also brings improved creative reporting and AI-powered image recommendations, giving advertisers more precision and insight without sacrificing efficiency.
Email Design: The Art and Science of Getting Clicks — HubSpot’s guide to email design blends proven best practices with simple, high-impact tweaks—from optimizing preheader text and clickable logos to fixing contrast issues and adding alt tags. The takeaway: good design isn’t about flashy effects—it’s about clarity, consistency, and accessibility that drive opens, clicks, and conversions.
I Search Traffic Surges — Desktop searches via AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity have more than doubled in a year, now claiming 5.6% of U.S. search traffic—up from just 2.48% in mid-2024. For early adopters, that share hits 40%, eroding traditional search’s dominance. With LLMs often surfacing a single answer instead of a list of links, brands face fewer opportunities to appear—fueling a rush toward “AI optimization” to secure visibility in these emerging search channels.
From SEO to AEO: The New Search Reality — Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode, and zero-click behavior are transforming search from a list of links into an answer engine—where visibility inside AI summaries matters as much as (or more than) rankings. Links are losing weight, user intent is multi-modal, and authority signals now trump keyword volume. The shift to Answer Engine Optimization means structuring content to be the best possible answer—human- and machine-readable—so your brand is chosen, not just found.
This Year’s Funniest Marketing Campaigns — From tongue-in-cheek billboards to viral social media gags, 2025’s standout campaigns prove humor still wins hearts—and feeds the algorithm. This roundup shows how brands are using wit, surprise, and a little self-awareness to create shareable moments that stick. Sometimes, the smartest move is the funniest one.